The HTC Touch has been available on the Sprint Network since November 4, 2007. Since November 4th I have been using the Touch to replace my aging HTC Mogul. In the world of cell phones you are always a hero today and a bum tomorrow, but more importantly your mobile device is always under a world of scrutiny. The first and most obvious comparison with the HTC Touch is how does the mobile device compare to Apple’s world famous iPhone? Is the TouchFlo technology superior or inferior to the iPhone’s multi touch technology? Most importantly, can an on screen keyboard actually compete without the tactile feedback of a hard keyboard? I will answer these questions along with other questions in the thorough Official HTC Touch Review. If you would like any additional questions answered please feel free to leave a comment and I will answer all questions in a timely manner.
To Touch or not to Touch?
Key Features
- TouchFLO™ screen technology, 5-way navigation key
- Sprint Music, Sprint TV and Sprint On Demand
- 2.0 mega pixel camera with auto-focus
- Bluetooth® 2.0 with stereo support, 11-pin mini-USB port
- Qualcomm® MSM7500, 400MHz processor
- 256 MB ROM, 128 MB RAM internal memory
- 2.8″ QVGA TFT LCD, 320 x 240 64K-color touch screen
- 3GP, 3G2, MP4, AVI video
- Compact at 3.98″ (L) x 2.34″(W) x .54″(D)
- Lightweight at only 4.0 ounces
- Direct Push Outlook® e-mail
- Windows Mobile® 6 Professional
- View and edit Microsoft Office Mobile® Word and Excel® files, view PowerPoint® and PDF documents
- CDMA, EVDO dual band, all-digital phone
So there are the basic specs, lets move forward to the important information.
The HTC Touch is the first attempt at a radical change to distance itself from the traditional booring Windows Mobile Interface. Windows Mobile has always been criticized by its lack of intuitive design and efficient interface. HTC Touch incorporates Touchflo to utilize swipes of the finger vertically or horizontally to carry out navigation on the device. The concept is simple, a new method of quick accessing your menus, navigating web pages, browsing photos, and most importantly making a phone call. The interface is interesting, but honestly it does not revolutionize the device because you never really escape windows mobile. It is a worthy attempt and a promising sign of the future for windows mobile based devices, but at its current state I would not feel comfortable showcasing my HTC Touch Touchflo interface in comparison to Apple’s iPhone. I rely on windows mobile in my day to day use, but the Touch interface is not up to par.
The interface aside, the device has impressive specs for any current windows mobile device on the market. With the superior Qualcomm® MSM7500, 400MHz processor and 128MB of Program Memory (RAM) and 256MB of Storage Memory (ROM). The specs are on par with the current Pocket PC power-horse the HTC Kaiser (AT&T Tilt), but what makes the HTC Touch even more impressive is that it has the superior graphic capability which currently plagues the HTC Kaiser. You will remember this processor from the HTC Mogul, but the Mogul lacked the available Program Memory of the HTC Touch. Now lets get straight to the point and do a quick Q&A Session
Q: Typing: I currently use a standard flip phone/candy-bar/slider and I want to make a switch to a HTC Touch
A: The Touch on screen keyboard is reminiscent of typing on a Blackberry Pearl with the shared keys layout. This layout is efficient for typing and will be a huge improvement for a current standard flip phone/candy-bar/slider user. If you want a small device that has all the capabilities and speed of a top end windows mobile device the Touch is perfect.
Q: Typing: I currently am a text message addict and email power user my blackberry/treo/pocket pc/smartphone is my best friend
A: There are several keyboard options ranging from full-screen keyboards to sure-type configured keyboards for the Touch. More skins and layouts will continue to be designed and redesigned so the options will continue to grow. The screen of the Touch is 2.8 inches and this will never change, in addition the resolution is QVGA (320×240 pixels). Keep both of these factors into consideration, if you have trouble typing on Apple’s iPhone and dislike the onscreen keyboard, imagine the smaller dimensions and take a realistic approach. The Touch is not going to cut it for power text messagers or power email users. Future keyboards and modifications to the device might make this a possibility, but at the present moment I cannot recommend the Touch to this user group.
Q: Who is the ideal user for the Touch?
A: The ideal user for the HTC Touch is someone who likes to mix multimedia with business. They enjoy or are required to keep email accessible 24/7 on their device (not necessarily needing to reply, but reading the email is sufficient). They want a small form factor and a sleek designed phone without the bulk of a pocket pc or treo (excluding the Centro). Taking pictures and being able to access their media on their device in all forms (movies, pictures, video) are a priority. Bottom line: if you do mild text messaging (500 or less messages per month) and the previous description fits you I feel completely confident in giving the HTC Touch my recommendation.
Q: Battery, will this HTC Touch last a day?
A: My current usage based upon my plan details from Sprint average 150 text messages sent/received per day. I receive approximately 50 emails per day and send approximately 10 emails per day. My phone usage averages 60 minutes per day and I am currently not using bluetooth and I have incoming beams disabled. In the 14 days I have used the HTC Touch I have allowed the phone to drain the battery everyday and given a full overnight charge. The longest the phone has lasted was 12 hours in a day which might not sound like a long battery life, but in comparison the HTC Mogul would prompt me to recharge the battery after only 10 hours with the exact same usage. For a power user the device has acceptable battery life and definitely above average battery life for any windows mobile device. If you are looking for a small package and full physical keyboard you should look towards the new Motorola q9 which should be hitting Sprint later this November. If you are the moderate user coming from a standard flip phone the HTC Touch should have more than enough battery life, but regardless of usage this device like all windows mobile handsets has the expectation of a nightly charge.
Q: iPhone or Touch: I live for multimedia and need a thing phone.
A: iPhone all the way. I don’t own an ipod or a Mac, but I have owned the iPhone and used plenty of Macs and there really is no challenger in the market for MP3 players or Multimedia phones when comparing devices. If you listen to MP3s and love having your photoalbum on you 24/7 you should get the iPhone. The HTC Touch is only slightly different from the standard run of the mill Windows Mobile phone when it comes to multimedia: you can slide your fingers across the screen to navigate through your photoalbum or use finger actions on the screen to zoom, rotate or pan. All music is done through Windows Media Player, which is inferior to iTunes on the desktop and no different on mobile devices. The target audience of the iPhone and HTC Touch are completely different so take this entire section with a grain of salt and if you are reading this post strictly for this section you should already be driving to the Apple store.
Conclusion / Overall Feeling / Recommendations
If you are a current Sprint subscriber and enjoy your service (or the SERO plans) and the ideal user fits your description then by all means rush to the Sprint store and purchase the HTC Touch. For standard flip phone/ candy-bar / slider phone users looking to take a leap into pocket pcs and want that sleek design the HTC Touch will be the perfect transition device. It will give you top notch performance in windows mobile, a sharp 2.8 inch screen, and a nice interface to start with. I have gone from the HTC Mogul and switched to the HTC Touch, but the Touch phase is coming to an end. I just need a keyboard to do my daily activities and I cannot handle the loss in Words Per Minute (WPM). The speed of the device is excellent and definitely puts the HTC Mogul to shame, especially when using Threaded SMS. The responsiveness of the device is the best for any Windows Mobile phone to date and the Touchflo has its novelty at times. I appreciate the effort by HTC and hope that the future continues to bring change. This was a great step in the world of windows mobile and maybe a full QWERTY edition of the Touch will be released with a super slim keyboard underneath (the same one many iPhone users still wish they had). The device scores a solid 9/10 in world.
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“The responsiveness of the device is the best for any Windows Mobile phone to date…”
Except for the Treo 700wx or Treo 750. Honestly, my 2 year old Treo 700wx running WM5 with 1/2 the ram and a much slower CPU is just as responsive. The Touch certainly has a killer form factor, but my impression is that most people who rave about this phone have come from other HTC devices. People who come from WM based Treos are not nearly as impressed.
Very true, the Treo 700wx is extremely fine tuned with Windows Mobile 5.0 and it runs very fluid even when adding the threaded text off of the treo 750. I have always enjoyed using the WM Treos with the exception of the 700w from Verizon which suffers from the same lack of memory like the Sprint HTC Mogul.